Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence.
Nidhi said, “My grandparents will reach Jaipur by the morning train tomorrow.”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Nidhi said that her grandparents would reach Jaipur by the morning train the next day.
Changing a statement about the future into indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joining word | “ ” (quotation marks) | that | The spoken words are a statement, so they are joined with “that”. |
| Tense change | will reach | would reach | “Will” talks about the future. After the past “said” it becomes “would” (would + base form (V1)). |
| Pronoun change | My | her | The speaker is Nidhi, so “my” becomes “her”. |
| Time word | tomorrow | the next day | The words are reported later, so “tomorrow” becomes “the next day”. |
| Full sentence | Nidhi said, “My grandparents will reach Jaipur by the morning train tomorrow.” | Nidhi said that her grandparents would reach Jaipur by the morning train the next day. |
“Can” and “may” move back in the same way, to “could” and “might”. Example: Kiran said, “I can lend you my bicycle tomorrow.” → Kiran said that she could lend me her bicycle the next day.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Nidhi said that her grandparents will reach Jaipur by the morning train the next day. — Incorrect. “Will” is not changed. After the past “said” it becomes “would”.
Option 3: Nidhi said that her grandparents would reach Jaipur by the morning train tomorrow. — Incorrect. “Tomorrow” is left unchanged. In the report it becomes “the next day”.
Option 4: Nidhi said that her grandparents would have reached Jaipur by the morning train the next day. — Incorrect. “Would have reached” is wrong. “Will reach” moves back only to “would reach”.